Ricards Lodge High School - A Brief History of Wimbledon Pre 1900s

A Brief History of Wimbledon Pre 1900s

The manor of Wimbledon was presented to the archbishop of Canterbury by Edward the Confessor in the 12th century; the property remained in the possession of his successors until the reign of Henry the VIII when it was re-possessed by the crown. It was sold again by Queen Elizabeth the first to Sir Christopher Hatton, from him in turn to sir Thomas Cecil. Queen Elizabeth was not interested in the property whilst it was in her possession but was later entertain there on several occasions.

A new manor house was built in 1588, sitting where the Morden home park road halfway down the hill. Facing north, the Morden Wimbledon park forms part of this land. The manor was inherited again by sir Theodore Janssen in 1717 who eventfully became a baronet.

But Sir Theodore Janssen was unfortunate enough to be made scapegoat of Prime Minister sir Robert Walpole's relief plan and hence stripped of his properties.

Following the confiscation of Janssen estates some of his properties was purchased in 1725 by Sarah, Duchess of Malbourgh the Duchess having decided Wimbledon was one of her favourite spots, decided to build herself a new manor house with a northward view. To achieve this, Sarah cleared away completely the remains of the old Cecil manor house. The duchess died in 1744 and left the estate to her favourite grand son, who gave it to his son, Earl Spencer. John Spencer died in 1783 and was succeeded by his only son George John, on the aster Monday 1785 the house was "accidentally" set on fire and burnt down.

A new Wimbledon park house was comioned by Henry Holland and started 1795 finished 1801.